San Antonio, Texas United States Precipitation

Total Time = 2h 19m Overall Rank = / Age Group = Age Group Rank = 0/

Dark foreboding skies accompanied my crappy mood as I locked my door and drove over to my partners in whine. We’d done the marathon in Austin about 2 months previously and none of us felt very confident about a 10 mile trail run as we had been slacking/suffering from big race let down. To top it off, it had douched the night before, so it promised to be a muddy, humid, nasty run.
I get to my buddies house at about 6:40 (race was set to start at 8:00, but I had not registered so we needed to get there early). My mood was getting worse. I was tired (spurs playoffs went late) and pretty vocal about how little I wanted to do the race. The fellas thought this was hilarious as it was my idea to do the damn thing way back when. So, bitching welshy in tow, we drove to the race site (thank god I didn’t drive). So I’m wrapped up in my own personal misery and watching the sky get darker and darker on the way to the park. The hungry, hostile and searching drops that intermittently splatted on the windshield were pregnant with promise…. The truth is I feared this run – more than the half IM or marathon – my training has been for shit.
We get to the race site and all the roads were under 3-4 inches of water, so we tiptoed around and walked incredibly complex routes to the pavilions in order to keep our socks dry. I paid my ridiculously inflated race day entry (double the pre-registration) and my mood sunk even further. Internally I cussed my friends who would not let me back out, myself for being a pussy and telling not them to get fucked, the rain, my training, my slut mother for ever conceiving me… You name it. While my buddies were ogling all the hot ladies (and there were an inordinate amount of them and they were all wet), I would include them in my running dialogue about how much I hated everything. She’s a bitch – her nose looks like a boomerang, etc….
After tiptoeing back to the car, we got inside to wait for the race to begin.
In the car, we watched as it got progressively darker, windier and wetter. The rain, after an hour or so of vacillating on whether it was going to show for the party, made an appearance the likes of which I’ve rarely seen. In a 1 hour period, it rained about 3 inches. For the first time that morning, I smiled. Good, lets make it really shitty, I thought. My buddy in the back seat (who hates the IDEA of mud between his toes, mush less the reality) says “Maybe Thomas is right. Maybe we should call it a day. Go get some bloody marry’s or something (he’s one of the “Mexicans”). Jay says “well, if ya’ll wanna quit, I'm ok with that. What do you say, Thomas?”
“Huh….” I say, not really paying attention. I’m looking at the clouds spin a lazy circle, again and again. “Look at that, Jorge. Looks like a funnel cloud…” I smile again. Jorge is fussy and little things like that worry the crap out of him.
“Let’s go” he says with trepidation.
Jay laughes and tells him not to be such a wuss. Jay’s a 20 year marine Major. I can see the gleam in his eyes….
Then the rain stoppes and the hail starts. It was like the storm was catching it’s breath. *ping*
*ping ping*
*ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping….PING PING PING BANG PING BANG….
“Fuck this. Lets go” Jorge says through my sniggering laughter. Hail is floating like lava on top of the river that we’re now parked in.
“Hell no, I’m running…”
“I hate you.”


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